


The Devils Heat

by emilybyrne908



Category: Daredevil (TV), Eventual smut - Fandom, Matt Murdock x you, Murdock/Reader, Mutual pining - Fandom, Romance - Fandom, Slow Burn - Fandom, fluff - Fandom, matt murdock x reader - Fandom
Genre: Angst and Fluff and Smut, Angst with a Happy Ending, Avocados at Law, Character Development, Eventual Smut, F/M, Falling In Love, Fate, Fluff, Gentleman Matt Murdock, I Sold My Soul to Write This, Physical Abuse, Slow Burn, Slow Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-01
Updated: 2018-11-12
Packaged: 2019-08-14 04:19:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,459
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16485791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emilybyrne908/pseuds/emilybyrne908
Summary: "You take quick steps heart beating, blood pumping and sweat forming on your brow. Your body is preparing you for escape you can feel the adrenalin flooding your whole body like water flooding over a dam. You are frightened fear amplified by the steps that follow yours, they have been following you for about 3 blocks now and you know exactly why there here."…..Keep reading to find out.





	1. How Fast Can You Run?

**Author's Note:**

> Hi guys,  
> Nice to meet you I'm Em:)  
> Heres my first chapter for "The Devils Heat"  
> I update every sunday and will not abandon this story halfway through so make sure you look for sunday updates.
> 
> PLEASE leave comments…good, bad, suggestions or critiques all comments are welcome!
> 
> Okay I hope you enjoy.

“Men are afraid that women will laugh at them. Women are afraid that men will kill them.”-Margaret Atwood

You take quick steps heart beating, blood pumping and sweat forming on your brow. Your body is preparing you for escape you can feel the adrenalin flooding your whole body like water flooding over a dam. You are frightened fear amplified by the steps that follow yours, they have been following you for about 3 blocks now and you know exactly why there here. Your best chance is to stick to main streets with a lot of people and run once you find a crowd of people to disappear into, but what then? You can't return to your apartment they would be waiting for you. Waiting to break a few finger's or worse. Your mind rushes to formulate possible escape routs, but you have no friends or family in Hells Kitchen and you can't run all night. 

"Come on (Y/N) be quick and think fast use that brain that you spent so much money on in university…you can't let these assholes get you."

You mutter to yourself almost like a mantra and practically like a prayer, but you can't rely on a merciful god of the ghost of your older brother to strike down your perpetrators. You take a deep breath and reassess your situation best you can by breaking it down.

"Ok" You inhale trying to draw some clarity and reason into your anxious brain. Treat it like a test and think rationally. 

Question 1  
"How many are there? "

Your eyes dart around your surrounding area and you see a store front window jutting outwards toward you. Perfect a reflective surface. You angle yourself towards the store window and focus on the reflection directly behind you and you see two men. you only have a moment before passing, but you observe them long enough to have a basic mental image of who your running from. 

The first is about 6'1. He's white and you can see the start of a tattoo. You can't tell what it says you only see black ink scrawled across his neck disappearing under his black hoodie. He looks pretty strong and his partner looks just as intimidating. He walks a few paces behind the other man his hands shoved in his pockets while smoking a cigarette. He has blond hair slicked back with so much product that you wonder if his hair might ignite. 

"Okay" you repeat to yourself and take another breath and concentrate.

With the two of them you rule out running. Despite your cardio stamina you doubt you can out run 2 gangsters in your 4inch heals or even bare foot… at least not for very long. That knocks out 2 of your potential escape options. Multiple alternative options rush to to your head you narrow it down to one. You have to hide, but where? your plan to disappear into a sea of confusion and people hadn't worked the two men stalked you and remained relentless in keeping there eyes on you. 

"Okay" you say to your self as a reminder to inhale.

Question 2  
"Where do people go when they want to disappear?  
&  
what are your options?"

You look around at the building surrounding you and compile a list in your head from the options available. A large hotel 50 meter to your left. A Chinese restaurant coming up on your right. The police station that was 2 blocks away and a Church 250 meters away.

Hotel  
A hotel 50 meters away on the left side across the street. In a mad dash factoring in having to make it alive across a street in New York maybe 30 seconds. It would makes it hard for them to find your room, however it only works if you have a room and you don't exactly have time to go through the process of checking in with them so close behind you. Even if you manage to put distance between you. Plus no money…

Next

-Restaurant  
Once again mad dash, but it takes less time only 15 seconds to freedom. If you make a sharp right and run you might make your way through the kitchen and have access to a back door, but then your most likely in a alley with no witnesses and you already established shear speed as a factor not worth relying on.

Next

-Police Station  
No. For multiple reason's , including having to answer why you where being followed by these men and elaborate on how pretty little you got into so much debt with such unsavoury characters, but the main reason is that you didn't want to end up dead for being a rat. You have personally seen what happens to those who attempt to go that route.

Next 

-Church  
Maybe this could work. 200 meters away, so about 55-60 seconds depending on adrenaline. A priest or nun would understand your urgency much more than a hotel receptionist. You knew they wouldn't turn away a threatened soul. You just hoped a professed man of god would be willing to help. People have been seeking refuge in churches for centuries. You could hide in the basement or catacombs or whatever underground sanctuary was available. 

It was a risk, but at this point but could feel the men growing impatient and you sensed that it was only a matter of seconds before they grabbed you and pulled you into a secluded alley. 

"Fine" You say with trembling lips. Your whole body shaken; partly because of the adrenalin and mostly because of the fear.

Question 3  
"How fast can you run"

 

Your foot hits the pavement, but this time with purpose. You think you may have underestimated the power of fear and adrenalin as you pound the pavement at a speed that could match your own heart beat, you feel your heals fly off in the first 10 seconds and the pain from stepping on trash and tiny pebbles is blocked from registering in your brain. Until around 30 seconds where you feel a sharp pain in the soul of your foot left from stepping on the broken glass of a beer bottle - definitely registers, but not enough to stop you from running. 45 seconds and you reach the stairs and the thought that you might get away is tantalizing. At 50 seconds you burst into the church- your eyes dart around like a wild animal and you spot and older priest with a white collar he looks up at you surprised, but you don't get the impression he's overly shocked…which is strange. You rush over to him leaving bloody footprints on the floor he looks at you with a knowing look as though he had already preconceived your arrival…once again odd. You open your mouth planing to make a quick plea in the hopes that he is merciful.

"Father please-"

"This way. Quickly! clearly theres no time for explanations"

He grabs your arm and you follow behind him without needing to say another word he opens a door and leads you down a narrow flight of stairs. Its pitch black and the air is cool you are enveloped in a quite darkness. Despite the priest leading you your balance is difficult to maintain especially at the fast pace your moving at. you wonder how the priest is managing he must have been down these steps a lot to be so sure footed in the total darkness. You reach your hand to touch the walls to stabilize your self as you walk and your fingers glide over the cold damp surface. Eventually you reach the bottom of the stairs and what seams to be a storage area. The priest leads you to a granite coffin he lifts the lid to slide it over enough so that your slender body can slip inside. He makes a motion, gesturing towards the coffin.

"Get in I will come get you when its safe"  
He says in a kind but stern voice. You feel so much gratitude towards him for trying to help save your life.

You slip into the coffin 

"Quite a unique place to hide someone" you say trying to alleviate some of the terror that had coiled around your body like a snake strangling its pray. Despite your situation you were still slightly puzzled by how he needed no explanation, but knew what to do almost like he had prepared for similar circumstances …which was ludicrous because its not every day that a priest has some crazed and frightened 26 year old sprint into his church seeking shelter from angry criminals….you had to be the first…right? 

As he pushes the slab of cement over you he sighs 

"It probably won't be the last time someone uses this hiding spot". You catch his expression before he completely closes the coffin -a worried smile that has a tender warmth to it as though his thoughts had shifted to a loved one or family member.  
He's definitely been through this before you think to your self in your quiet tomb…who in the hells kitchen is crazy enough to end up in a sarcophagus, bleeding, hoping that criminals don't rip off your coffins lid and beat you to death whilst under the catacombs of a church…OTHER THAN YOU. A question for another time. The air in your coffin was warm and after 15 minutes you start to worry that the priest may be dead. You do the math in your head the average casket measures 84 by 28 by 23 inches , so its total volume is 54.096 cubic inches, or 886 liters. You use that as the internal volume too, to give you a few extra minutes of life. And the average volume of a human body is 66 liters. That leaves 820 liters of air, one-fifth of which (164 liters) is oxygen. If a trapped person consumes 0.5 litters of oxygen per minute, it would take almost 5 and a half hours before all your oxygen in the coffin was consumed. You didn't have to worry about the coffin so much as the two men who were probably in the church looking for you right now. Just then you hear muffled footsteps coming down the stairs followed by shouting and loud movements. You close your eyes and try to ignore your thoughts about what will happen if they find you. You can't help but feel tears form in your eyes. The lid to the coffin starts to move and a small beam of light filters in to your dark quiet tomb you feel like a corpse being exhumed from a your resting place. Theres no escaping and you see that you have run out of options.

In that moment you can envision your own death…its going to be painful and most likely ends with broken fingers and bleeding out on the cold floor of a church, but then it will be over. The pain will end, your body will grow numb and you can drift into a eternal sleep and rejoin the person who you loved most in your life. At this point it would just be easier to resign yourself to fate or to stop fighting only to live another lonely day. Who were you struggling for?, but then a verse attached to gentle memories reminds you. It sounds like a faint whisper from heaven so tender and soft were the words of your brothers.

"Its okay to be scared. Being scared just means you're about to do something really, really brave"


	2. Guardian Angel's and Black Silk Ribbons

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys as promised heres Chapter 2  
> I hope you like it.  
> Please comment- love hearing your thoughts and opinions.  
> Next chapter will be posted sunday.  
> Enjoy~

The blond man with the neck tattoo makes eye contact with you through the opening of the lid and smiles sinisterly  
at you. Together the two man send the coffins lid crashing to the ground you know you have been found, but your going to be brave no matter how scared you are. You have decided that if you can't run then you will fight. You take the men by surprise when you jump up from the coffin landing a punch right under the tattooed mans chin, yet its not enough to knock him back more than half a step and slightly disorientate him. While the tattooed man regains his balance you desperately swing at the second man who grabs your wrist with his right hand and jerks you out of your stone box grarbing your hair with his left hand. He drags you across the floor you kick and scream trying to loosen his grip your fingernails dig into his skin and rip his flesh.

"let go you fucking bitch!"

He says as he slams you up against the stone wall your head jolts back from the impact and hits against the hard surface. You drop to the ground and feel that a loud ringing has made its self present in your ears. You feel as though the terror from eriler has completely taken hold of you the ringing in your ears sounds like the hiss of a snake, yet you fight on loosening the mans hold. Your hand grips the wall for balance and you look back at the stairs only to see the tattooed man is blocking them, he pulls a switch blade out of his pocket and looks at you with a smirk. The man who tossed you against the wall makes no further action to beat you, instead he looks back over his shoulder at the tattooed man waiting for a command. You take advantage of his hesitation a drive your knee into his groin as hard as you can he lets out a cry and you skid around him. You see a door and hope that behind it there is a second stairwell or exit leading outside. You dash into the room and lock the door behind you hoping it will give you an extra few seconds to find an escape. You look around at the room soft light filtering through stain glass windows bathing the room in brightness, so different from the dark room you had just exited. You observe statues of angels and saints covered in a thin dust and steal racks holding jars, linens as well as sacramental wine…no exit.

You feet ache from glass shards that are still embedded in there soft tissue and your head rings from the trauma of being smacked against a wall. It doesn't take you long to think of a plan, you grab one of the linens off the steal rack and wrap it around your hand you push the wrack under the window and climb it so that you are level to your escape route. You close your eyes and wined up your arm and land your first punch its not enough to break the window, but your second is. You hear the glass break and shatter upon meeting the ground just then the door fly's open. You don't even take the time to look at the men you focus on scrambling through the small broken window the glass knick's you in a few areas, but you ignore it and struggle harder. You feel a hand wrap around your ankle and drag you back through the window your hands can feel the pavement outside the window you dig your fingers into the hard stone in an attempt to claw your way to freedom, but you only succeed in bloodying the tips of your fingers as your and pulled back into your cage. The man drags you until you fall 5 ft on to the glass you had broken to escape. You yelp in pain and the blond man who you kicked in the balls drives his foot into your stomach, you gasp for air and try to hold back any noise…you know men like this enjoy hearing there victims screams. He kicks you again and again a total of 10 times until you through up on his shoe which seams to enrage him even more he reaches down pulls your hair hauling you over to the tattooed man who has sat quietly watching you suffer with a playful smile plastered on his face. Then the tattooed man spoke.

"I don't think she will be running after that, well done Chax"

You glanced over at the greasy man…"Chax…thats not even a real name" you groaned from the floor a small smile forming on your lips 

" Your Mama probably named you Chester. " You chuckled weakly before feeling his boot smash into your face sending a massive amount of pain through your skull and busting your lip open.

"Hey Damian can i kill this bitch she's getting annoying and she's almost gotten away from us three times now." he said in a very matter of fact tone.

A beat of silence passes between the three in the quiet room you hold your breath and stair at the cold floor your laying on.

Damian is the first to break the silence.

"You don't have anything to say about my name (Y/N)?" he says ignoring the comments made by his partner. 

You look up at him to see if he's serious, but you are only met with a indiscernible expression. Out of the two men Damian scared you more. Chex may have beat the shit out of you but you could get inside his head…he was dumb and easily provoked the kind of man who would never be more than a thug, whereas Damian seemed to be smarter and harder to read. You decide to give him an answer… maybe its because of bravery or maybe its because of stupidity, but whatever your reason you decide to respond.

You swallow your fear and look at him with hateful eyes 

"I don't have a problem with your name so much as that black collar around your neck…" you say grinning as much as you can manage through the pain.

"Who's dog are you Damian? Who are you barking threats for?"

His expression never falters and never changes, but the atmosphere around him does. All of the sudden the light in the room grows cold and eerie the air feels as though it were laced with menacing thoughts, but for a full minute not a word was spoken. 

The silence only added to the disturbing tension and you almost hoped he would snap and attack you so that your anxious brain could stop dreading whatever he was about to do. Chax stood dumbfounded his eyes looking from you to Damian as he stumbled towards Damian.

" Boss let me handle this street whore i can-"

"You won't do anything…I think i like her"

"Are you sure? You busted your hand up pretty bad on the last girl you liked"

A large grin crept across his face. 

"Then ill use my knife" 

Chax took a few steps back clearly intimidated by his partner and you looked up at him hiding your fear. He crouches down beside you and traces a cold finger over your bloody lip.

"You know women are always most beautiful when there scared"

You internally shutter at his calm words, but refuse to let your body shake. Instead you spit a mixture of blood and silva right into his eye.

"Woof, Woof. You barking more masked threats doesn't scare me"

"Im glad" he says overly enthusiastic "It makes breaking you all the more fun!" 

You took a deep breath inhaling what you knew would be your last breath, you closed your eyes and found yourself transported to a more innocent time, a time that had been filled with bitter sweet memories. 

December 18th 1999  
You remember it clearly as though the past and present had aligned themselves. You see memories unfolding right in front of you in a intense clarity. You observe a small girl sitting at a church pew her hands are folded and pressed in her lap and she hasn't moved an inch for over an hour and she won't. Her little body is unnaturally still for a child- she makes no movements to smooth out the fabric of her black dress or fidget with the the long black ribbon in her hair, she doesn't smile or explore the church like many curious children would…instead she sits still and motionless her face blank and her gaze focused on the item between her clasped tiny hands. This quite little girl was you.

A small rosary that your parents had given you for your first communion. The beads are small, white and glossy like pearls and dangling from the pearls you see a man nailed to a cross, his head tilted and his face in agony. As a child the image of the crucifix had always been disturbing to you. A half dead man, bloody and stripped. Despite your attempts you never could really understand why people found so much comfort in the image, maybe it made people feel closer to god if they saw him bleed, a proof that he felt pain just as they did…or maybe it was just another catholic gilt trip that the church used to remind us that humans are capable of evil and that we possess a darker nature. A nature so dark that his son had to die in order for it to be subdued. 

Your younger self stands and slowly makes her way towards the alter of the empty church, the funeral had ended and she walked alone towards her mother. A dark cherry wood casket rests in front of her. It is to tall for her to even see inside. She reaches out just enough to touch the smooth wood and falls to her knees still clutching the rosary in one hand.

" Hello god" she says in a whisper 

"I have been saying my rosary just like my mommy taught me, but i wanted to try talking to you instead of praying. You see i think you made a mistake…because mommy isn't ready to be an angel like they say in sunday school. If you bring back mommy i promise i will be good. I will pray every night and i will listen to my sunday school teacher when she tells me not to re-wright bible stories, I will even become a nun…and my big brother will be a priest. Please don't take her away from me…I have so many things i want to do with her." 

The small girl was quiet for a minute before she burst into tears. She was sobbing and crying out for her mother when all of the sudden a soft voice calls her name and two large arms wrap around her small frame. For a moment she thinks its her mother and the tears bubbling in her eyes make it hard for her to tell who was with her, but the familiar scent of earthy sandalwood helps her recognize the strong arms.

"David- I-i-think -god -hates---me" the small girl says hiccuping between each word. You felt him pull you into a even closer hug, stable and reassuring arms around you despite the lump in his throat and the subtle tightening of his jaw. 

"Hey bunny i don't wanna hear you talk like that. No one could ever hate you- it hurts me when you say stuff like that."

He pulls your face away from his shoulder and digs into his pockets finding a crumpled tissue. He uses it to wipe your face and smiles sadly at you.

"What are we gonna do now" the little girl whispers to her brother 

"Don't worry about that, i will take care of you. I'm always going to be looking out for you…no matter what"

The little girl paused and looked at him carefully trying to see if he was telling the truth or just another lying adult.

"You have to pinky promise. That no matter what you won't leave me alone" 

Without hesitation david reached out his hand and interlocked his pinky with hers. It was a strangely sweet sight to witness. The tall muscular form of your brother crouched next to you only a small delicate child. He was trying so hard to sooth you while exhausted from tears of his own.

"I David Lapointe solemnly swear to stand behind you when you need the support of a brother, beside you when you need the companionship of a friend and in front of you if you need the protection of a guardian. Forever and always until the very end."

You looked at him with wide eyes and smiled. You didn't know it at the time but those words would be etched in your heart forever. He looked at you tentatively, but all of the sudden a well dressed man makes his way over to your brother.

"I am very sorry sir but we have another precession here in 15 minutes. We are going to need you and the other pallbearers to move the casket"

"I understand…can you let them know to come back everyone is in the reception room…i just need a few more minutes to get my baby sister settled" he said 

"Not a problem sir" says the man before disappearing through the back of the church 

"(Y/N) i want you to understand…myself and a few family members are going to be pallbearer's…do you know what that means?"

You shake your head in response to the question.

"There going to help me carry mom's casket so that she can rest peacefully"

"No i don't want them to take her away! S-she might come back"

David took a deep breath his expression pained as he had to explain the finality that death brings. He thought for a minute trying to think of a delicate explanation that would not hurt the small girl. After a brief moment he spoke.

"Do you remember how you would wright mom stories…how happy it made her to see your brilliant mind creating beautiful stories?"

"Yes…but sister Eleanor said that making up stores was a waste of class time…she got really mad when i told her that i could re-wright the bible stories to make them more fun."

David let out a small laugh and smiled lovingly at you.

"Okay well sister Eleanor is a fun killer…i would know i had the record for suspensions at sunday school when i was your age, but i have an idea for how you can stay close to mom."

"How?" said the curious little girl 

"What if you wright mom stories and we can send them to heaven."

"Y-you can do that!" 

"I can mail them for you, but I'm going to need your help…after all were going to need a lot of stamps for that to get all the way to Heaven" he said feeling guilty about the small lie

"Okay but… I'm scared to leave mommy"

"Its okay to be scared. Being scared just means you're about to do something really, really brave" He stood up and reached for your hand. He clasped his hand around your dainty fingers and took small steps so that you could match is pace. 

"So your like my brother and a superhero and a guardian angel?" she said with adoration in he soft little voice 

"I guess i am" he said with a laugh 

As you walk towards the church's exit you see a boy a bit older dressed in all black, he's wearing sunglasses and holding a thin walking stick. It had been a very small and private funeral and you knew everyone there except this boy. you look to your brother and ask curiously 

"Who is he?"

"He must be part of the next funeral" David said quietly 

"Did he lose his mom to?"

"Maybe…or his dad or another family member. lots of sad things happen in life bunny thats why we have to be kind to people, you never know what there going through."

You looked at your brother thoughtfully and back to the boy. You drop your brothers hand and run up to the sad looking boy and without warning you wrap your arms around the unsuspecting child. 

"W-what are you doing!…who even are you?" said the puzzled and confused boy 

"My name is (Y/N)…you look really sad and i thought a hug would help"

"P-pardon" he said growing more confused by the second. You took a deep breath and started rambling. 

"My mom just died and it really hurt's and i thought maybe your mom just died too, but you don't look like you have a brother or superhero or guardian angel to give you a hug, so i thought i could give you one and maybe i could be your guardian angel. My Big brother says that we have to be kind to people because we don't know what there going through."

You stand up on your tippy toes and pull your arms around the boy even tighter before your brother comes flying after you.

"W-whAt ArE yOU DoiNG (Y/N)! LeT GO Of tHat BoY RIgHt NOW" he says panicked and confused at what just happened

You release the boy from your tight hold and reach behind your head to pull the black ribbon out of your smooth hair.

"I have to go now, but i can give you this…its kind of like a friendship bracelet." You pause holding the item in front of him. Your confused when he doesn't take the ribbon from you and then you realize that the glasses aren't to hide tears, but because he's blind. You slide your hand down the arm of his jacket and touch the back of his hand before turning his palm upwards and placing the black silk ribbon in the centre of his palm. He folds his fingers over the item and smiles faintly.

"Thank you" says the boy quietly 

"Your welcome. I know your still sad …we should be frien-" before you can finish the sentence you feel your small body get swept up by big arms. Your brother holds you with one arm resting you on his hip and for the first time that day you feel exhausted like the interaction with the boy was the last thing you could do before falling asleep. You reach your arms around your brothers neck and rest your head for a moment.

"I am so sorry about my little sister…I really hope she didn't say anything to offend you" he says quickly 

The boy glances in your brothers general direction and smiles.

"No she was very kind…Im glad to have run into her today" for a moment its quiet and then your brother speaks 

"Thank you for understanding and I'm sorry for your loss"

The boy nod's and your brother continues carrying you towards the exit of the church 

"(Y/N) you know you can't go around assaulting people…even if you have good intentions" Said david wearily 

"Mama said sometimes its better to put love into hugs than to put it into words" 

"LOVE!…W-what makes you think you love him?. Y-your far to young to even say things like that!" 

the little girl shrugged and looked at her brother 

"I love everyone…but you and mama and papa the most"

"Okay well…no more professing love to strangers" david sighed as he exited the church and walked into a Kaleidoscope of colour. Red green and gold leaves swirled around in tiny tornados and for a moment you swore your mother's tender kind spirt was present in the wind. David set you on the ground and extended his hand. You held it walking down a path encircled in a fortress of leaves.

The image of your brother walking with you hand in hand slowly begins to fade from a bright clarity to a blur. The golden breeze of leaves replaced by the overwhelming pain that seemed to be your present reality.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Make sure to let me know what you thought.  
> The Good  
> The Bad  
> & The Ugly  
> All comments welcome :)


	3. A World With No Light

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PLEASE READ THIS IT COULD CHANGE EVERYTHING!!! 
> 
> Hi guys i wanted to know what format you liked better:
> 
> -The reader insert stories  
> or  
> -Stories that focus on a actual new female character.
> 
> I have been thinking about maybe re-writing this story as a character based story, but thats only if people would still be interested. If we go with an actual original female character her name will be lucy (cece as a nickname) and the story will progress as it has been only instead of main protagonist being the reader (thats you bud) it will be lucy. Im honestly good either way but i can't make a decision….so 
> 
> PLEASE COMMENT AND LET ME KNOW BECAUSE IN SITTING HERE WRITERS PURGATORY TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHAT DIRECTION TO GO and its got me kinda distracted from focusing on other aspects of the story…like how to get matt shirtless and thats whats REALLY important guys….so help a girl out please. 
> 
> READ THE NOTE…AND IF YOU DONT TRUST THAT I WILL KNOW!

Your body feels tired and you feel yourself on the edge of unconsciousness, as a futile attempt at escape you try to crawl away on your hands and knees. Damian grabs your leg and without hesitation he slice's his knife through your achilles tendon sending a searing pain through your body. You let out a scream and your hands instinctively move to cover your bleeding ankle. Your so distracted by the pain in your ankle that you barely notice when Damian flips you over on your back. Its not until he starts unbuttoning your blouse that your aware of whats happening, you try to flee but the second you go to move your ankle the pain amplifies ten fold. He rips off your blouse and stares at your exposed skin. You hate that he can see you vulnerable, you hate that he has all the power and most of all you hate that despite your best attempts to be brave your whole body is shaking. Damian notices your trembling and appears to be very pleased.

"Chax turn on the fucking lights suns down and I like being able to see the faces of the women I fuck." 

He was right…the light that had filtered through the stain glass windows had faded, but soon a florescent light above replaced the black shadows with cold artificial light. Your back is flush to the ground and Damian hovers over your body and you cringe thinking about how close he is. He takes his knife in one hand and presses it to the soft skin directly above your sternum. He stops for a brief second and looks intensely into your eyes. Then with one quick movement he pierces your skin and slashes a red line down the centre of your chest ripping through the soft material of your bra. You hammer your hands against his chest and shriek at the pain, but despite your reactions he never breaks eye contact. 

The gash down your sternum is not deep. In fact its barely deep enough to make you bleed, but the wound to your achilles was more than just a cut- he had slashed the tendon and you had started bleeding badly. He grabs your shoulders and pulls you forward into a seated position 

"Tell me…how dose it feel. Dose it hurt? Dose it feel good?" He asked with hair raising enthusiasm 

"Why don't you give me the knife and you can tell me." you said weakly and you wondered if you could even manage to hold a knife steady in your current condition.

"I'm surprised you can even speak, but then again the whole fight to the death thing is hot. Your offer is…tempting but i know of better things we can do with our time" 

His hand slid up your skirt and he yanked you towards him burying his face in your neck. You feel his hot breath hit your neck like a sledge hammer- no scratch that you would have preferred the sledge hammer to the disgusting sensation and you feel repulsed when his tongue slides up the outer edge of your ear. Then without warning he shoves you back down to the hard cement, you feel the air rush out of your lungs from the force he had applied. It takes you a few moments to breathe again and once more you feel eyes leering at your exposed skin. Damian steadily scans your body carefully contemplating where to make his next incision. 

You have held back tears because of your pride, but you feel like you are at your limit. You try to shake the thoughts from your mind. You won't break. You are determined not to break. You look over his shoulder and around the room hoping to find something to distract you from the pain and the fear. You know Damian is talking…something vile and grotesque no doubt. You need to take a moment to ground yourself or else this man is going to succeed in breaking you. You draw a kind voice from your memory. 

"Look around you bunny. Find 1 thing you can taste" Blood  
"2 Things you can smell" Jasmine perfume and sweat  
"3 things you can hear" The hum of electricity from the lights, a siren passing by and a dog barking in the distance  
"4 things you can touch" Cement floor, Skirt fabric, shard of glass and a small loose button from your blouse  
"5 things you can see." Broken glass, Small candles, Stack of bibles, guardian angel statue….and the Devil…

"great" you thought to yourself…the concussion must be causing hallucinations.

The realization that the figure standing before you was not an illusion came later and for a brief moment you wondered if you were dead and the devil had come to collect your soul. 

 

All of the sudden the lights went dead-… maybe you have died and now you are floating in a cold black void. The cold numbness that had started to creep into your body was welcomed compared to the agonizing pain you had felt only seconds ago. Damian abruptly stands up and attempts to adjust his eyes to the darkness.

"Chax what the hell just happened" he says in an authoritarian tone 

There was no response.

A quiet hush fills the dark room and feels like the quiet before a storm, but you can't focus you feel your awareness slipping away. You fade in an out of the next 5 minutes…Its hard to remember exactly what happened and the memories come in waves. Little bits and pieces are clear and others shrouded in mist. You can't remember the struggle or the fight at all, but the end result stays clear in your mind. When you regained consciousness a blood curtailing scream was being preyed from Damian's lips, his screams are the clearest in your memories and nightmares alike. The darkness wrapped around you like a cold wet blanket, it muffled the screams only slightly and it isolated you from the pain, but inside your dark and cold cocoon you felt solitary and alone. The shadows were unaccompanied by any comforting sights or distractions and with no light all that remained were the loud and unpleasant cry's of a criminal. An odd realization occurred alongside a feeling of loneliness that sunk into your chest…a world with no light was lonely. 

The screaming stops and you hear the heavy sound of a body thud to the ground. You wonder who's body is collapsed and broken in the dark room and you worry about the intentions of the new man in the room.  
A gloved hand abruptly touches you and you flinch at the sudden sensation thinking that Damian may have gotten up. The hand retracts and doesn't make a second attempt to grab your battered body, instead a calm voice floats out from the darkness.

"I know your afraid…I'm not going to hurt you"

The voice belongs to a man. His tone is mellow and soft which was very appealing compared to the harsh tone and violent word's spoken by Damian and Chax. His smooth voice coupled with reassuring words was all it took to send your brave facade crumbling down and you felt frightened tears burn in your eyes and sobs shake your body like they had been trapped in your soul for years. You hadn't cried like this since you were a child standing next to a casket at your mothers funeral, but now instead of your brother being there to consoul you there was a stranger who's face you couldn't even see in the darkness. You felt humiliated and angry that this man was seeing you in such a helpless state and even though your mind told you he couldn't see your tears in the dark you still felt terribly exposed.  
You reached your arm over your eyes in a effort to hide the tears that ran down your cheeks and moved your other hand up your chest clutching the torn fabric that was your blouse trying to still the sobs that came from deep within, but nothing helps. 

You had promised yourself that you would never let anyone else see you cry because allowing someone to see you vulnerable is allowing someone to see you weak. You had managed to not fall apart in front of Damian or Chax so why now, why after the attack would you be quivering like a small child. Maybe it was because it had been so long since someone, literally anyone had shown you kindness. Part of you had believed that kind strangers were a fantasy, a notion we delude ourselves into believing so that we don't have to confront the fact that humanity was selfish and indifferent to the suffering of others. People like this aren't real…those who claim to be selfless and righteous usually have something to gain from there actions. 

Your thoughts are once again interrupted by the sensation of a hand, however this time the touch feels much more considerate in its very nature. The mans hands were no longer gloved and you could feel the warmth of his fingertips as his careful and cautious hands examined your body. Each gentle movement felt comforting and sent warmth radiating throughout your body. He must have taken one of the linens from the storage racks you had noticed previously because a soft sheet covered your exposed and bleeding body. The kind and sympathetic response of this stranger made your tears gradually slow and your sobs melt into hushed whimpers until you found your voice again.

"Why would you help me" 

A small pause echoed throughout the room and then the man spoke 

"Because it was the right thing to do and I wouldn't be who I am if I couldn't help people like you"

He must have picked up on your suspicions and the fact that she was unsatisfied with his answer because with a havey sigh he added

"A long time ago i had a guardian angel…we only met briefly, but she taught me that kindness towards strangers is what brings people together in solidarity and that one kind act can save someone's life"

A memory stirs in the back of your mind, but you are too scared, exhausted and concussed to make any connections, but the wording…"Guardian angel" stays trapped in your head like a broken record. You feel some bitterness well up from inside you as thoughts of your brother flood your mind.

"I hate to tell you this but guardian angels and heroes are never around this world for to long. The people who care usually end up dead, but what do you expect having integrity and trying to save your soul…that comes with a price. Your virtuous guardian angel is most likely dead. Just like mine." You say groaning quietly 

His voice stays calm and he shows no indication of being angry at you even after your implication that someone he loved was dead. The words he spoke next were sure and strong.

"I don't think my guardian angel has died…maybe a bit battered and broken and definitely different than the last time we met, but not dead thats the only thing I'm certain of." His unwavering strength was admirable and you would have normally thought of a response to his statement, but you were losing focus quickly and you find yourself to tired to argue with your saviour.

When you don't respond he reaches towards you slipping his hands underneath your body separating you from the floor. You lean into his chest as he lifts you off the cement. Your whole body relaxes into him and you bring your arms around his neck feeling the need to hold onto something. He was surprised by your movements and he remains silent for a moment, reflecting on a distant memory. You do hear a quiet hum from the mans lips, he speak's just barely above a whisper.

"Maybe your not that different" 

 

You don't even process the words and at this point you have completely lost any sense of self preservation or rational thinking because the only thing you say to your saviour is…

"No hospitals…..or i send you the bill… Mr Violent Hero "

You don't stay conscious for very long but you hear a soft chuckle escape the man before slipping into black unconsciousness, however this time the darkness didn't feel like a world absent of light. You could feel the warmth and light emanating from the man who had saved you, maybe a world with no light didn't have to be lonely and maybe some strangers did care.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PLEASE READ THIS IT COULD CHANGE EVERYTHING!!! 
> 
> Hi guys i wanted to know what format you liked better:
> 
> -The reader insert stories  
> or  
> -Stories that focus on a actual new female character.
> 
> I have been thinking about maybe re-writing this story as a character based story, but thats only if people would still be interested. If we go with an actual original female character her name will be lucy (cece as a nickname) and the story will progress as it has been only instead of main protagonist being the reader (thats you bud) it will be lucy. Im honestly good either way but i can't make a decision….so 
> 
> PLEASE COMMENT AND LET ME KNOW BECAUSE IN SITTING HERE WRITERS PURGATORY TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHAT DIRECTION TO GO and its got me kinda distracted from focusing on other aspects of the story…like how to get matt shirtless and thats whats REALLY important guys….so help a girl out please. 
> 
> READ THE NOTE…AND IF YOU DONT TRUST THAT I WILL KNOW!


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